Manitoba Post-Secondary News Roundup

Continuing their commitment to support Indigenous student success, Red River College and Indspire have announced $1M in bursaries to help the Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries, Scholarships and Awards program.

“This financial support we’ve created demonstrates our commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action,” said RRC’s Executive Director of Indigenous Strategy Rebecca Chartrand in a press release. “There is a compelling need for financial assistance for Indigenous students who want to pursue post-secondary education. The Building Brighter Futures bursary we’ve created at Red River College will help remove financial barriers for students to support their educational aspirations. “

Thanks to funding from the provincial and federal government, the Université de Saint-Boniface will be opening its first francophone daycare. The centre provides French services for children of parents who work or study at the university or live in the area.

“Over the generations, Francophones in all regions of Canada have kept their language and culture alive,” said the Honorable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Tourism, Official Languages ​​and La Francophonie. “This requires access to education and cultural experiences in one’s language from an early age. That is why I am pleased to announce funding for this center for learning and child care so that children can live in a francophone environment all day long. ”

University of Manitoba professor, Ji Hyun Ko, will be leading a study on whether meditation can prevent post-traumatic stress disorder. Cognitive behavioural therapy is usually a front-line defence for PTSD. However, Ko and his team are testing whether mindfulness practices, such as deep-breathing and meditation can help provide the brain protection from depression. Ko, a professor in human anatomy and cell sciences, has created a tool to measure brain activity. The tool tests what effects online and in-person mindfulness-based cognitive therapy classes have on the brain. It will be the first study to demonstrate the neurophysiological underpinnings of preventative psychological intervention for PTSD.

Starting this fall, Assiniboine Community College is offering several new advanced diploma programs. These one-year programs will allow individuals to expand their skills and deepen their knowledge. The on-campus Brandon programs offered this fall are:

Accounting

Agribusiness

Finance

Human Resource Management

Indigenous Financial Management

Marketing

“Students build on prior learning and experience to enhance their critical thinking abilities,” said Bobbie Robertson, Dean of Business. “They expand their competency into other subjects that they can then apply in practical career settings.”

A new study at Brandon University has researchers looking more closely at stress experienced by men in the Westman region. The study will take place over two years and seeks to address growing mental health concerns in the Prairie provinces.

“We have seen significant efforts to increase awareness of men’s health issues in Canada,” said project lead Rachel Herron. “Initiatives such as the recent Let’s Talk campaign and Movember have helped to bring mental health and wellness into the public eye, but we also need to understand the challenges and stress men face in the region to provide better support to them and their families. We need to know what is getting in the way of their health.”

If you are a man living in the Westman region and would like to participate, please contact Herron at 204-727-9771 or HerronR@BrandonU.ca.

The University of Winnipeg’s Department of Geography is stepping it up in the technology game with a new augmented reality (AR) virtual sandbox. The AR 3D sandbox allows individuals to manipulate the sand in order to demonstrate geographic concepts.

“It’s a powerful visual aide and a lot of people connect with it because it has this tangible quality you can play with,” said Dr. Christopher Storie, Department of Geography Chair. “The camera is designed to look at the surface in three dimensions. It reads the surface of the sand, the peaks and valleys, bumps, and divots. Then the computer processes that and projects what most people would interpret as a topographic map.”

Campus Manitoba is a consortium of Manitoba’s public post-secondary institutions. Through collaborative projects and shared services, we facilitate student mobility and expand access to post-secondary programs for students in Manitoba. In addition to campusmanitoba.ca, our websites include ecoursesmb.ca, setyourcourse.ca,and openedmb.ca.